strathspey@strathspey.org:27896

Volleyballjerry
Oct. 15, 2001, 8:37 p.m. (Message 27896)

men dancing with men as partners

The entire discussion of men dancing with men in SCD (with the exception of
comments from Ken McFarland) seems to presuppose one of the following:
A. that there is an unusual imbalance of genders with men prevailing,
B. that the men partnered together have suffered from some snail-paced delay
in snapping up partners while women have speedily chosen each other, or
C. that the man on the woman's side wishes to present himself with the
mental challenge of dancing on the opposite side.
I truly find that when a woman asks another woman to dance, it often has
nothing to do with the gender balance at the event; she simply asks her
because she would like the pleasure of her company as a partner. Though this
may have originated historically out of necessity, we have long since reached
the point where women ask other women to dance with a comfortableness that is
quite voluntary. This does not generally seem to be the case with men,
EXCEPT for those of us who are gay and don't care who knows it. We are not
hesitant to occasionally dance with each other, quite by choice and
regardless of the event's gender balance, and in my own (Southern California)
San Gabriel Valley Branch (with our events often well attended by members of
the neighboring Los Angeles and Orange County Branches), this does not seem
(as Ken McFarland has more generally stated) to ruffle (m)any feathers,
though one never knows what is being said behind one's back!
Robb Quint
SCD teacher, Thousand Oaks, California